SOURCE MATERIAL FOR THE STUDY OF OBJECTIVISM
* General Philosophy * Epistemology * Psychology * Morality * Ethics * Politics * Economics * Esthetics * Books and Movies in the Romantic Art Form * Miscellaneous good stuff
Caveat Lector:
Some of the authors cited here are not Objectivists, nonetheless many of
their ideas are excellent expressions of Objectivist principles.
There is a plethora of books, many of which are trash, on the subjects
which I mention in my writings. You should beware the reviews in the Laissez
Faire catalog, as they present many books as libertarian which are in fact
the writings of political conservatives. If you're not careful you could
waste a lot of money buying things which do not tell you what you want to
learn. The books included in this BOOKLIST are the best I have found for a
good presentation of Objectivism and libertarianism.
Most of the stuff in this BOOKLIST can be purchased from:
Laissez Faire Bookstore
And take a look in the world's largest bookstore:
Amazon
Consider also: The Objectivism Research CD-ROM
This contains all of Rand's works and two of Leonard Peikoff's (The
Ominous Parallels and Objectivism: The Philosophy Of Ayn Rand).
Writings by the Brandens and other authors are not included, nor is THE
OBJECTIVIST FORUM.
The search engine for this material is outstanding! And the text is in
easily readable format. I find it to be well worth the price of $150.
For more info, and to order it, see:
Objectivism.Net
* General Philosophy
THE VIRTUE OF SELFISHNESS - Ayn Rand & Nathaniel Branden (Signet book
#AE2931)
ATLAS SHRUGGED - Ayn Rand - Random House
THE OBJECTIVIST NEWSLETTER, THE OBJECTIVIST, THE AYN RAND LETTER, THE
OBJECTIVIST FORUM A series of monthly journals published from 1962 to 1985
by Rand et al.
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF OBJECTIVISM - 20 lectures by N. Branden
FOR A NEW LIBERTY - Murray Rothbard - Libertarian Review Foundation
An excellent application of libertarianism to all aspects of social
existence. Everything is nicely explained by detailed reference to the non-
aggression principle.
* Epistemology
PRINCIPLES OF EFFICIENT THINKING - 10 lectures by Barbara Branden
1984 - George Orwell - New American Library (Signet) 451 CY688
This is the most prophetic book of the 20th century. Orwell's concepts of
Newspeak and Prolefeed are indispensable to an understanding of the
development of American culture during the last half of that century. A
thorough knowledge of Newspeak, as it has been implemented in America, is
the best means by which one can avoid an immense quagmire of faulty
thinking.
INTRODUCTION TO OBJECTIVIST EPISTEMOLOGY - Rand - Edited by Binswanger
and Peikoff - Penguin 452-01030-6
THE ART OF REASONING, EVIDENCE OF THE SENSES, TRUTH AND TOLERATION
These three excellent books by David Kelley are available from The
Institute for Objectivist Studies, 82 Washington St #207, Poughkeepsie NY
12601-9768
Institute for Objectivist Studies
* Psychology
PSYCHOLOGY OF SELF-ESTEEM - Nathaniel Branden - Bantam 23449
If you haven't read this book, you don't really know what psychology is.
In this work Psychology has found an Aristotle to organize its material,
systematize its problems and define its fundamental principles.
THE DISOWNED SELF - N. Branden - Bantan 22794
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ROMANTIC LOVE - 16 lectures by N. Branden
Nathaniel Branden's WebPage
ROBIN AND MARIAN - James Goldman - Bantam T2772
Is the screenplay for the movie starring Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn
(the story of how Robin Hood died). The introductory essay, on the subject
of heroes, is magnificent.
* Morality
HOW I FOUND FREEDOM IN AN UNFREE WORLD - Harry Browne - Macmillan
Practical procedures for achieving as much personal freedom as possible
in an authoritarian society.
* Ethics
LIBERTARIANISM - John Hospers - Nash, 1971 (out of print)
LIBERTARIANISM IN ONE LESSON - David Bergland - Orpheus Publications
Clearly shows the fundamental differences among the Liberal,
Conservative, and Libertarian ethical views.
EVOLUTION OF COOPERATION - Robert Axelrod - Basic Books
Explains how cooperation can emerge among self-seeking individuals when
there is no central authority to police their actions. Not surprisingly, the
most practical way of dealing with the Prisoners' Dilemma is to use a
technique based on the libertarian ethic. (Axelrod is not a libertarian.)
MARKET FOR LIBERTY - Morris and Linda Tannehill - Laissez Faire Books,
1970
Contains some excellent statements of principle, but all else consists of
the WouldChuck argument. THE ENTERPRISE OF LAW contains the proof for the
principles presented in this book. FOR A NEW LIBERTY fills in the principled
basis.
* Politics
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE - Henry Thoreau (in "Walden and Other Writings",
Bantam 21246) A classic portrayal of the anarchist principle.
ENTERPRISE OF LAW - Bruce Benson - Pacific Research Institute
This book is a very good documentation of the historical rise and
development of government law, the present disastrous state of government
law, and the present nature of private law. It is a good answer to the
question "What is government?" A strong case is made that government in the
USA is a tool of coercion used by special-interest groups to effect wealth
transfers.
SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY? The Supreme Court and Individual Rights - by Henry
Mark Holzer (The Common Sense Press, 1983)
Prior to reading this book you should read Ayn Rand's two essays, "Man's
Rights" and "Collectivized 'Rights'" which appear in THE VIRTUE OF
SELFISHNESS. Rand identified the underlying ethical principle, Holzer shows
how the Supreme Court has applied that principle throughout its existence.
By quoting the opinions written by various justices, Holzer presents the
Court's justification for its decisions. He makes it perfectly clear that
ALL the Court's decisions, both those that accidentally accord with
libertarian precepts, and those that deliberately deny them, arise from the
altruist-collectivist-statist philosophy.
Holzer reveals the Court's decisions to be clear expressions of the idea
that individual rights come from, and are subordinate to, "society" - that
it is a proper function of government to deny individual rights for the
"common good." Holzer shows that in spite of the Bill of Rights and
everything else in the Constitution, there are two and only two basic ideas
underlying the decisions of the Court: "the interests of the government,"
and the Court's estimate of "the will of the people."
Though from time to time and issue to issue some justices appear to care
about individual rights, this "care" has been both superficial and
selective. For example: though "liberals" usually oppose government
restraints on speech, they frequently support government regulation of
economic behavior. And on the other hand, though "conservatives" usually
oppose government restraints on economics, they often support government
regulation of speech. To the extent that there has been disagreement among
the justices, it has not concerned the fundamental principle of whether or
not government should control people's lives, but merely the details of how,
when, and to what extent individual lives are to be controlled. Thus, it
isn't important what kind of judges are interpreting the Constitution, i.e.,
whether the Bench is made up of "liberals" or "conservatives" or "strict
constructionists" or "loose" ones. What is significant is that the Supreme
Court consistently upholds the constitutionality of laws which violate
individual rights. And it has done so from its very beginning, as is shown
in this opinion by justice Iredell in 1798:
Some of the most necessary and important acts of Legislation
are... founded upon the principle that private rights must
yield to public exigencies.... if the owners should refuse
voluntarily to accommodate the public, they must be
constrained, as far as the public necessities require....
Even for a hard-core anti-statist libertarian like me, who has been aware
of and studying the phemonenon of statism for many years, it is truly
frightening to see how the Court has explicitly created the absolute and
unlimited government power that underlies the law in America.
This book conveys an enormously distressing message, all the more so
because Holzer demonstrates that it is not at all difficult to ferret out
the justices' standards of judgment. Anyone who monitored the several
confirmation hearings held in 2005-2006 had the opportunity to look inside
the minds of people who, often as not, do not themselves know what they
think on an issue, much less why they think it, but whose thoughts do,
nevertheless, rest upon identifiable premises.
It is not the case that Holzer is making a biased presentation that rests
on "proof by selected instances." Just take a look at recent Court decisions
involving individual rights and you will see that the two "basic ideas" I
mentioned above are being applied right to this day. For example:
HIIBEL V. SIXTH JUDICIAL DIST. COURT OF NEV.,HUMBOLDT CTY.
(03-5554) 542 U.S. 177 (June, 2004):
In the ordinary course a police officer is free to ask a
person for identification without implicating the Fourth
Amendment.... As best we can tell, petitioner refused to
identify himself only because he thought his name was none
of the officer's business.... A state law requiring a
suspect to disclose his [identity]... is consistent with
Fourth Amendment prohibitions against unreasonable searches
and seizures.... [The state is merely] balancing its
intrusion on the individual's Fourth Amendment interests
against its promotion of legitimate government interests.
After reading this book you will realize full well that there is not, and
cannot ever be, any hope for libertarian politics. Only a restructuring of
the Constitution could possibly save America from eventual dissolution.
This book should be required reading for any American who believes that
he lives in a free society - a society governed by a Constitution that
protects individual rights. He does not.
Here are some novels that illustrate political ideas:
THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS - Robert Heinlein - Berkley 0 425 06262 7
A colony on the Moon is Earth's "Botany Bay." The central managing
computer becomes a conscious entity and it, along with a few of the humans,
stage a revolution, freeing Luna from Earth's control. The best SF story
ever written. It contains some of Heinlein's best political philosophy.
THE GREAT EXPLOSION - Eric Frank Russell - Avon (Equinox) 23820
Includes a portrayal of a society without government
VOYAGE FROM YESTERYEAR - James P Hogan - Ballantine Del Ray 29472
Another portrayal of a society without government
THE SYNDIC - C.M. Kornbluth - Avon (Equinox) 20586
The government has been driven out of America, and the country is ruled
by a consortium of the Mafia et al.
THE PROBABILITY BROACH - L. Neil Smith - Ballantine 28593
What would America be like today if the Whiskey Rebellion had been
successful, Washington executed, the Constitution abolished, and the
political ideals of the Anti-Federalists implemented?
* Economics
HOW YOU CAN PROFIT FROM THE COMING DEVALUATION - Harry Browne - Arlington
House, 1970 (out of print) Despite its unfortunate name, this is an
excellent textbook on economics.
ECONOMICS IN ONE LESSON - Henry Hazlitt - Harper & Row
This book is an excellent refutation of many economic errors. But that's
all it is. The entire work is a criticism of economic error and an apology
for the institution (government) that perpetrates that error. He nowhere
proposes what might be the proper course of economic endeavor. I think this
would make a good primer--something that would clear away the mistaken
beliefs in a person's mind.
CAPITALISM THE UNKNOWN IDEAL - Rand et al. - Signet E9227
HOW THE WEST GREW RICH - Nathan Rosenberg and L.E.Birdzell, Jr. - Basic
Books. This is a fascinating and illuminating history of the economic growth
of our society, from the demise of the feudal system of the Middle Ages to
the beginning of the 20th century. This book is an excellent starting point
for a study of economic history.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AMERICAN BUSINESS - Edited by John Brooks - Doubleday
PANICS AND CRASHES - Harry Schultz - Pinnacle Books 230516
This is an excellent history book, with lots of fascinating
documentation, but not much at all in the way of principled guidance.
THE ECONOMIC TIME BOMB - Harry Browne - St. Martin's Press, 312-92133-0.
Browne argues that the larger danger in a crisis situation is not the
crisis itself but the potentially destructive effect of the government's
response to the crisis. This applies not only to real crises, but also to
imagined ones. As such "non-problems" as the trade deficit, stock market
declines, and America's new status as a debtor nation are exploited as
excuses for more government, the probability of catastrophe increases.
Another aspect of this analysis is that government might already have
taken actions (prior to a crisis) that preclude an alleviation of the
crisis. For example: Environmental laws passed prior to the California
earthquake made it illegal for Route 1 to be repaired.
PUBLIC GOODS & MARKET FAILURES - Edited by Tyler Cowen - Transaction
Publishers
Only the third section of this book (Case Studies) has any real value.
But it is pricelessly valuable! It consists of examinations, in the real
world, of situations contemplated theoretically in the first two sections.
It clearly shows the tremendous difference between the fantasy of economic
theory and the reality of economic fact.
TRIUMPH OF CONSERVATISM - Gabriel Kolko; Quadrangle Books, Chicago 1967
Shows how a political-industrial complex came into being in America
during the early years of the 20th century as businessmen tried
(successfully) to use the federal government as a tool of coercion in the
marketplace. This book is good for background but not as a primary source.
It corroborates the "special-interest" thesis in THE ENTERPRISE OF LAW.
FREE TO CHOOSE - Milton & Rose Friedman - Avon 52548
The best--and really the only useful--parts of this book are chapters 7
and 8, where the Friedmans critique government intervention in the
marketplace. These two chapters have a lot of useful historical analysis.
* Esthetics
THE ROMANTIC MANIFESTO - Rand
* Books and Movies in the Romantic Art Form
I will begin by naming the principle that underlies those works of
literature that I, as an Objectivist, find esthetically appealing. The thing
they all have in common is a manifestation of VALUES; to be precise: a
striving to achieve important values in the face of great adversity. The
defining characteristic of Romantic Art is that it portrays Man as a
volitional being whose choices are significant determining factors in the
course of his life. For a full philosophical explanation of what values are
and why they are a fundamental necessity of life, you should read Ayn Rand's
essay "The Objectivist Ethics", which appears in her book THE VIRTUE OF
SELFISHNESS.
When a person strives to achieve great values--and is successful--that
person is a HERO. Indeed, it is precisely this behavior that is the defining
characteristic of a hero. So, to put it quite simply, since I am a man whose
life is built around very firmly and explicitly held values, I love stories
about heroes. Stories which show me, in symbolic form, the achievements of
others and thus help give me the spiritual strength to work toward my own
goals. For a magnificent description of heroes--and why we don't have them
anymore--you should read James Goldman's screenplay for ROBIN AND MARIAN.
Man needs heroes. We need to believe in strength, nobility and courage.
Otherwise we become sheep.
There is one more attribute a good story should have: it should be a
well-told story: a story that consists of a believable world--one that is
internally coherent and can induce in the observer an appropriate mental
frame-of-reference. J.R.R. Tolkien described this attribute as a condition
of "...literary belief, the state of mind that has been called 'willing
suspension of disbelief.' What really happens is that the story-maker proves
a successful 'subcreator.' He makes a Secondary World which your mind can
enter. Inside it, what he relates is 'true': it accords with the laws of
that world. You therefore believe it, while you are, as it were, inside. The
moment disbelief arises, the spell is broken; the magic, or rather art, has
failed. You are then out in the Primary World again, looking at the little
abortive Secondary World from outside. If you are obliged, by kindliness or
circumstance, to stay, then disbelief must be suspended (or stifled),
otherwise listening and looking would become intolerable. But this
suspension of disbelief is a substitute for the genuine thing, a subterfuge
we use when condescending to games or make-believe, or when trying (more or
less willingly) to find what virtue we can in the work of an art that has
for us failed."
Tolkien's masterpiece, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, is by far the best example
of the sort of Romantic Art described here. It is a magnificent fairy tale
about a fabulous land, Middle Earth, where the forces of Good war against
and are victorious over the forces of Evil. A land where the Kings have
majesty, the Heroes have grace, and even the Villains have stature.
Some other good examples of Romantic Art are:
DOWN THE LONG HILLS - Louis L'Amour - Bantam #02038
One of L'Amour's best - the hero is a 7-year-old boy.
ON THE BEACH - Nevil Shute - Bantam #S3875
THE GIRL WHO OWNED A CITY - O.T. Nelson -Dell (Laurel Leaf) #92893
A plague takes all human adults, leaving only the children.
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA - Hemingway - Scribner #SL104
CYRANO DE BERGERAC - Edmond Rostand - Bantam HT4650
THE MIRACLE WORKER - William Gibson - Samuel French, Inc.
How Annie Sullivan taught the child Helen Keller to be a human. One of
the very few works of literature that has an explicitly epistemological
theme.
ANTHEM - Ayn Rand
TOILERS OF THE SEA - Victor Hugo
WATERSHIP DOWN - Richard Adams
Here are some of the movies that are excellent portrayals of heroism (I
think it unfortunate that many of them have a setting of war and violence,
but human society being what it is, this context is what gives rise to much
of the heroism in fiction):
Black Stallion Firefox Spartacus Man From Snowy River
Dam Busters Great Escape Muppet Movie Swiss Family Robinson
Dark Crystal High Noon Train Philadelphia Experiment
Dark Victory Lassiter Raid on Entebbe Somewhere in Time
Dragonslayer Last Unicorn Watership Down Benji the Hunted
These three movies I take special note of, because they portray a rarely-
encountered hero--a strong-willed, self-assertive woman:
Conan the Barbarian Time Rider Yentl
* Miscellaneous good stuff
Cato Institute 1000 Massachusetts Ave NW Washington DC 20001
The Cato Institute
Cato is a think tank run by Ed Crane--an enormously intelligent
libertarian. But some of his associates are not nearly as intelligent, and
not at all libertarian.
THE VINTAGE MENCKEN - ed. by Alistair Cooke - Random House (Vintage) #V-
25 Mencken was one of the greatest masters of the English language.
THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY - Ambrose Bierce - Dover #T487
In the form of a dictionary, this is some of Bierce's strange humor.
I am sorry to say that I have not found any periodicals that make a
genuine effort to develop libertarian ideas. No one at all advocates
Shrugging, and most people who call themselves Objectivists and/or
Libertarians reject--either implicitly or sometimes even explicitly--the
non-aggression principle.
The Randites have always been vehemently anti-libertarian and, by and
large, the libertarian movement that arose during the 1970s has since been
co-opted by political conservatives. The Libertarian Party has been
infiltrated with them to the extent that many of its members are now merely
disenchanted Republicans.
REASON magazine was at the forefront of libertarianism during the 1970s
but has since become mostly conservative in its orientation.
The IOS JOURNAL (from the Institute for Objectivist Studies, 82
Washington Street, Suite 207, Poughkeepsie NY 12601-9768 Directed by David
Kelley.) This has a strongly statist political frame-of-reference. David
Kelley, however, is an extremely intelligent man with a very high level of
philosophical acumen. Many of his writings are quite valuable.
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